Cotton harvester with cleaning means



COTTON HARVESTER WITH CLEANING MEANS Filed Oct. 4, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet l 7' g Francis M. Wagnon 4" INVENTOR. w m 0 Q E BY wyamy 1? Attorneys 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Francis M. Wag/van INVENTOR.

BY WWW F. M. WAGNON 4- A H U W T .L t k E mm mm H HUM. n w; MLW HI 0 e V ms c II. 1.! w NQ m. a

COTTON HARVESTER WITH CLEANING MEANS w m m w 111E 8 i M g M u M i I I I I I q W I i if, r 9 F u n l V QM 3: in h Q\ W N\ March 23, 1954 Filed Oct. 4, 1951 March 23, 1954 M, WAGNON COTTON HARVESTER WITH CLEANING MEANS Filed 001;. 4, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 March 23, 1954 F, M. WAGNON 2,672,719

COTTON HARVESTER WITH CLEANING MEANS Filed Oct. 4 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig. 4 2

F rune/s M. Wagnon INVENTOR.

Patented Mar. 23, 1954 Francis M. 'Wagnon,

tenth to Aitus, Okla, assigncr of one- Robert B. Perkins and three-tenths to James M. Sturdevant, both of Altus, Okla. Application October 4, 1951,, "Serial No. 249,721

'7 Claims.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in cotton harvesters and the primary object of the present invention is to provide a cotton harvesting attachment for tractors that is pensed from fluffy.

Another important object of the present invention to provide a cotton harvester that is quickly and readily applied to or removed from a tractor in a convenient manner.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a cotton harvester including a pair of side by side trough members that are mountable onthe sides of a tractor and which trough members include spaced side walls that are adjustably connected to vary the width. of the trough ineznbers in accordance with the rows of cotton plants.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a cotton harvester that is adapted to be mounted on a tractor and wherein the trough members house longitudinal endless conveyors, driven by the power taite off shaft of the tractor supporting the harverster, that will convey cotton bolls toward an air impeller, whereby the impeller will than direct the bolls to a housing memher having cleaning and trash separating means therein.

' A still further aim of the present invention is to provide a cotton harvester of the aforementioned character that is simple and practical in construction, strong and reliable in use, small and compact in structure, inexpensive to manufacture, install and service, and otherwise well adapted for the purposes for which the same is intended.

Other objects and advantages reside in the deta' of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view'of the present invention supported on a tractor (shown by dotted lines) Figure 2 is a top plan view of Figure 1';

Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view taken substantially on the plane of broken section line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a rear view of the invention mounted ona tractor;

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on the plane of section line 7-4 of Figure l and bent into concavo-convexed Figure 6 is a fragmentary side view of the invention taken substantially in the direction of arrow 8 in Figure 4.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, wherein for the purpose of illustration, is disclosed a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the numeral ii! represents a housing member that is suitably fixed to the upper portion of an open box-like framework 12 of. preferably angle iron construction.

The framework it? includes, at each side, a pair of forwardly converging straps forming a V- member M. rhe apices of the 'V-members 14 project forwardly of the framework 12 proper and are pivoted to cars I 6 extending from clamps l3 and the clamps '18 will embrace and grip the rear axle A of a conventional tractor 'I.. The lift arms L of the tractor are pivotally connected to a shaft '26 mounted in bearings '22 on the framework 12.

A pair of trough members 2 3 are supported in side by side relationship on the sides of the tractor T and extendlongitudinally of the tractor and forwardly from the framework 12. Each of the trough members includes an open bottom and a pair of side walls '25 and 26 that may be adjusted toward and away'from each other.

Inverted U-shaped members or yokes '30 are removably secured by fasteners or brackets to the sides of the tractor T and the members 30 embrace the trough members 25, as shown best in Figures 5 and 6. The lower ends .32 of the members so are adjustably secured to blocks 31 fixed to walls '26 and 28 through the medium of bolts 35 that are received in slots in the ends 32.

The forward ends of the walls '26 and 28 are throat forming portions 4'!) and the walls 25 and 28 are reinforced A rear horizontal driven roller 44 is *rotatably supported at the rear end of each of the walls '26 and "28, and a forward horizontal idler roller #6 is 'rotatably supported adjacent the forward end of each of the walls 26 and 28. An endless conveyor "48 is trained about the rollers 46 and E8 of each wall 26 and 28, whereby each of the trough members will have two endless conveyors therein that are spaced parallel to each other and which extend longitudinally of the trough members.

The rear ends of the trough members are provided with discharge sleeves 50 that are coupled to the intake conduits 52 of fan housings 54 by bellows-lik members 56. The housings 54 are supported by the framework I2 and include outlet openings in their upper walls in which the branches 58 of a tubular Y-shaped conduit 60 are suitably held. The body portion 02 of conduit enters the top of the housing member I0, as shown best in Figure 3.

The framework I2 rotatably supports a pair of parallel shafts 64 that extend longitudinally of the trough members and which shafts include forward ends that extend into the housings 54 to support fans or bladed members 60 that will direct material entering housings 54 upwardly through conduit 60 and into housing member I0, as illustrated best in Figure 7.

A central longitudinal shaft 68 is rotatably supported in bearings on the framework I0 and its forward end is coupled to the power take-off shaft S of the tractor. Pulleys I0 on the shaft 00 are connected to pulleys I2 on the shafts 64 by endless pulley belts 14 the belt to one of the pulleys I2 being twisted, whereby the members *60 will be driven by the power take-off shaft of the tractor.

A transverse shaft I6 is rotatably supported in bearings depending from framework I2 and carries pulleys 18 that are connected to pulleys 80 on the rollers 44 by belts 82. The shaft I6 also supports a pulley 84 that is connected to a pulley 86 on the shaft 08 by a partially twisted belt 88.

Means is provided within the housing member I0 for processing cotton entering the housing member prior to the passage of the cotton from the outlet 90 of the housing member and the burrs and trash through the outlet opening 92 in the bottom wall of the housing member. This means comprises a plurality of vertically spaced horizontally disposed cleaner brushes 94 having supporting shafts 00 that are journaled in suitable bearings on the side walls of the housing member. The shafts 96 project outwardly from one side wall of the housing member and support pulleys 08.

A plurality of vertically spaced horizontally disposed toothed members or sawing rollers I00 are positioned in side by side relation with and in front of the brushes 94 and include supporting shafts I02 journaled in bearings on the side walls of the housing member I0. One end of each shaft I02 projects from one side wall of the housing member I0 and these exposed ends of shafts I02 support pulleys I04.

A plurality of vertically spaced horizontally disposed burr and trash extracting rollers or toothed cylinders or strippers I06 are located in the housing member in side by side relation with the rollers I00 and in front of the rollers I00. The supporting shafts I08 for the rollers I00 each includes an end that projects outwardly from a side wall of the housing member I0 to support a pulley I I0.

One end of the supporting shaft I I2 of a spiderlike member or toothed roller or fan II4 which may be termed a beater or fluffer disposed horizontally over the uppermost of the rollers I00 projects from the same side wall of member I0 as the shafts 96, I02 and I08, and carries a pulley II6.

A horizontal upper transverse shaft H8 is rotatably supported in bearings on the framework I2 and carries a group of pulleys IE0 two of which are connected to the lowermost of the pulleys 98 and I04 by belts I22 and I24, the latter belt bein twisted as shown in Figure 8.

Adjacent pulleys 98 are connected together by belts I26; adjacent pulleys I04 are connected together by belts I28 with the uppermost of pulleys I04 connected to pulley II6 by a belt I30; adjacent pulleys IIO are connected together by belts I32; and, the uppermost of the pulleys H0 is connected to pulley IIO by a belt I34. In this manner, the pulleys I04, H6 and H0 will rotate counterclockwise when viewing Figure 8 whereas pulleys 98 will rotate clockwise in Figure 8.

The rollers I05 are located above the outlet 92 and the upper two of the rollers I06 are embraced by U-shaped screens I36 whose lower legs extend past the central roller of the rollers I00. An arcuate screen I30 is located under the lower-most of the rollers I00. A pair of downwardly converging baffles I40 and I42 extend toward the upper of the rollers I00 from the top wall of housin member I0 and confine the member II4 therebetween. A screen I44 in the member I0 extends over the member II4 as shown in Figure 3.

An elevator conveyor I43 extendsrearwardly from the outlet and is provided with a covering I40 and a driven roller I50 that is connected by a drive connection I52 to shaft II8, said drive connection preferably comprising pulleys and a belt. Shaft I I8 is connected by a drive connection I52 to the shaft 08.

In practical use of the present invention, as the tractor T moves forwardly, the cotton plants enter the trough members 24 via the stripper throats 00a, the cotton is stripped from the plants within said members and drops on conveyors 48 which elements are located in each trough member 24, and the conveyors convey the cotton to the housings 54.

The fans 06 impel the cotton upwardly through conduit 00 and into housing member I0 where the process of extracting fine trash from the cotton is accomplished by fan or spider member I I4 throwing the cotton against screen I44. The fine trash is directed through the screen I44 by air entering member It by conduit 60 over screen I44 and passes toward outlet 90.

The cotton passes down hopper I40, I42 which blocks the incoming air and the cotton is sawed, brushed and combed to separate the burrs and heavy trash from the cotton. The burrs and trash will pass through screens I30 and then through outlet 02 where it will fall to theground. The clean cotton will pass through the outlet 00 and since it is not machined it will be in a soft fluffy condition for ginning when it leaves the elevator.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A cotton harvesting machine comprising stripping means for removing the cotton from.

a plurality of rotary vertically arranged strip-.

pers located on the opposite side of said sawing means from said brushes, said sawing means, brushes and strippers having casing inclosing said sawing means, brushes and strippers, a combined rotary means located between said conveyor meansand arranged sawingv parallel a es, a

beater and fluffer,

said sawing means whereby said cotton is beaten and fluffed before being acted upon by said sawcasing having an outiet for said burrs and trash. and a separate outlet for said cleaned cotton.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein there are converging bafiies located between said beater and fluffer means, and said rotary saw means.

3. The combination set forth in claim 1 Wherein said rotary saw means comprises a plurality of sawing rollers.

4. The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein said screen means is located closely adjacent said strippers comprising U-shaped screens mounted on the opposite sides of said strippers from said saw means.

5. The combination set forth in claim 4 wherein there is a second screen means comprising an arcuate screen located under the lowermost of said sawing rollers and Within said casing.

6. The combination set forth in claim 4 wherein there is provided a third screen means located above said rotary beater and flufier means whereby to extract fine trash from the cotton as the same is thrown against said third screen means by said rotary beater and fiuifer means.

7. The combination set forth in claim 5 wherein there is provided a third screen means located References FRANCIS M. WAGNON.

Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Childress Oct. 3, 1905 Epps Mar. 17, 1914 Shaffer Apr. 27, 1915 Dickerson M Aug. 10, 1915 Speck Sept. 21, 1915 Manners Mar. 28, 1916 Dalke Sept. 15, 1931 Court May 14, 1935 Court May 14, 1935 Thomann Dec. 15, 1936 Court May 4, 1937 Boone Aug. 20, 1946 Homner et a1 Mar. 23, 1948 Sartin Jan. 3, 1950 Bennett Apr. 4, 1950 Hyman Nov. 28, 1950 Hart, Jr Jan. 16, 1951 May July 17, 1951 Edwards Oct. 16, 1951 

